Six-tailed comet spotted by scientists

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope set of images reveals a never-before-seen set of six comet-like tails radiating from a body in the asteroid belt, designated P/2013 P5.The asteroid was discovered as an unusually fuzzy-looking object with the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) survey telescope in Hawaii. The multiple tails were discovered in Hubble images taken on Sept. 10, 2013. When Hubble returned to the asteroid on Sept. 23, the asteroid's appearance had totally changed. It looked as if the entire structure had swung around.

Scientists have identified a space rock that has six spinning "tails" with the assistance of the Hubble Space Telescope — a strangely beautiful astral body that resembles a skewed comet.

Scientists suspect that the comet's bizarre appearance may be because it has begun to rotate so fast it is beginning to fall apart — destruction that the six "tails" are a natural testament to.

It's probable that more strange structures like P/2013 P5 are out there. "In astronomy, where you find one, you eventually find a whole bunch more," said Jewitt in the NASA release. "This is just an amazing object to us, and almost certainly the first of many more to come."

What's the difference between an asteroid and a comet — terms that have both been used to describe P/2013 P5? According to NASA's Near Earth Object Program, an asteroid is defined as "a relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun." Think of a giant space rock. Perhaps even the one Bruce Willis had to destroy in "Armageddon."

Meanwhile, a comet is described as "a relatively small, at times active, object whose ices can vaporize in sunlight forming an atmosphere (coma) of dust and gas and, sometimes, a tail of dust and/or gas." Think of the Hale-Bopp comet from the 1990s.

P/2013 P5 fits the description of both in some respects, which may explain the interchangeable term. For reference, the Chelyabinsk meteor that hit Russia this year was an asteroid, not a comet.